Asia Cup 2022 has begun in UAE which is the biggest opportunity for the Asian cricket-playing nations to practice for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. Before discussing the forthcoming world cup, do you know which team has the highest chances of winning this trophy and boosting their confidence for the upcoming games?
BANGLADESH CAN DO WONDERS
Srilanka and Bangladesh have pretty low chances of winning this trophy, yet they both can’t be underestimated. If we talk about current rankings, Sri Lanka resides in the 8th position, while Bangladesh is just below in the 9th position in the world rankings.
Bangladesh has disappointed many big teams in the world cup and other big tournaments. But looking at their current form in the 20 overs format, they aren’t that impressive. Still, we can hope they will display some good cricket and do wonders by shocking the top contenders like India and Pakistan.
SRI LANKA WILL BE AN UNDERRATED TEAM
Although the Srilankan cricket team is not the same as it used to be 8-10 years ago. After the retirement of some great legends like Sangakara, Malinga, Muralitharan, Dilshan, Jaywardhane, etc., this team has gone through a downfall in cricket. Still, there are chances for Srilanka to show exceptional performance because they had played impressive cricket against the mighty Aussies in the recent limited overs cricket.
Even after the degradation in performance of Sri Lanka in international cricket, they can’t be taken lightly since they can turn the game around at any time. Since Sri Lanka is the second most successful team in the Asia cup with five titles, this time as well, we are expecting some top-class cricket from this team.
PAKISTAN AND INDIA - THE PROBABLE FINALISTS
Looking at the current form of players, and rankings, it is obvious that the finalists of this tournament will be the greatest cricket rivals - India and Pakistan. Right now, India is the no 1 team in T20 cricket with a rating of 270. On the other hand, Pakistan is the no 3 team in this format with 261 ratings. Not only Asia Cup, but these two rivals are also one of the top contenders for lifting the forthcoming T20 World Cup tournament.
In the T20 rankings of batters, Babar Azam is in the top position with 818 ratings, followed by Suryakumar Yadav with 805 ratings, and Mohammad Rizwan with 794 ratings. Thus, this battle is going to be legendary for both teams. Along with the strengths, the top players of both teams will miss this tournament due to injury. For Pakistan, Shaheen Afridi will miss the games due to injury. For India, both death over specialists and star bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel are not in the Indian squad due to injuries.
HOME ADVANTAGE FOR PAKISTAN
Although the tournament is in UAE, still it will benefit them a lot more than their home grounds. For many years, the UAE has become a home ground for Pakistan. Most visiting nations play in the UAE against Pakistan. Previous year as well, Pakistan bashed the big teams including India and New Zealand in UAE in the previous edition of the T20 world cup. In addition, the captaincy of Babar Azam helped Pakistan a lot to excel in this format.
ROHIT’S CAPTAINCY IS INDIA’S BIGGEST STRENGTH
After the T20 World Cup 2021, India has gone through a lot of changes in the team including coaches and captains. After the legacy of Virat as a captain, it is now time for Rohit Sharma to lead team India to victory. The major reason Indian fans have high expectations from Rohit is that he is the most successful captain in IPL and made Mumbai Indians perform exceptionally well even in the toughest situations. Additionally, since Virat doesn't have a load of captaincy, the fans are also expecting his comeback against one of his favourite rivals Pakistan.